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How Patrick Brown’s PCs can show true leadership: Cohn

The subtext of tolerance has been lost in the furor over the Tory leader’s recent missteps on sex-ed.

Hell hath no fury like a social-conservative scorned. Patrick Brown’s erstwhile allies in the religious right are denouncing him for whispering sweet nothings in their ears, only to insist it was nothing of the sort, writes Martin Regg Cohn. (Rob Ferguson / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

As Patrick Brown goes round and round on sex education, here’s how he can regain lost ground.

The leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives needs to take a firm stand. Not so much on sex-ed (he has adopted more positions than the Kama Sutra) but on a broader issue: The cause of societal tolerance.

Brown has been tying himself in knots over sex-ed and gay rights of late, but seems to be on the right track at last. Now is an ideal time for him to expand his recent defence of sexual orientation to include national origin, race, religion, and other minority rights.

The subtext of tolerance has been lost in the furor over Brown’s recent missteps on sex-ed. Yes, he has undertaken outreach to ethnic minorities in the past — not coincidentally when campaigning for votes — but he needs to go beyond mere courtship to true leadership.

First, however, a little history on how Brown got where he is today, lessons from his recent past, and a path forward for his party — or possibly the province — in future.

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His Parliamentary voting record as a young Conservative backbencher in Ottawa reminds us that Brown got into bed with so-called so-cons early in his career, publicly denouncing gay marriage and abortion rights. It proved to be a mutually satisfying relationship, culminating with their support in the PC leadership race he won last year.

Later, as Brown tried to reposition himself — no longer pandering to the party’s religious right, but appealing to the broader public — they had a painful breakup. In the aftermath, he boasted of being the first Progressive Conservative leader to march in Pride parades.

But Brown couldn’t help returning to his old ways. In the heat of a hard-fought byelection campaign this past summer, his team reached out to the so-cons for succour, dreaming of a reconciliation.

Why parse his past statements? It’s a question better put to those leading the charge by leaking embarrassing messages from the PC leader and his chief of staff.

Hell hath no fury like a so-con scorned. Brown’s erstwhile allies in the religious right are denouncing him for whispering sweet nothings in their ears, only to insist it was nothing of the sort.

Among his tortured mea culpas, he has made two main points.

First, Brown now accepts the rather obvious need for an update to our two-decade-old physical health curriculum. Better late than never (let’s not re-argue the issue here, it’s already settled and implemented).

Second, he now sees what he once closed his eyes to — intolerance toward gays lurking among some (though not all) anti-sex-ed protesters.

“I have since come to the conclusion that significant opposition to the curriculum was rooted in a refusal to accept LGBT elements into the curriculum,” he declared in a formal statement this week.

Oddly, Brown keeps perpetuating the hoary myth that broader consultations were needed. Yet as he acknowledges elsewhere, diehard opponents will never be persuaded to support a curriculum update that has been under development and discussion since well before 2010, drawing on expert research and parental surveys.

Not every question merits a referendum. Some issues cry out for leadership.

Tolerance is one such topic. Minority rights do not lend themselves to majority prejudices — or even the prejudices of other minorities.

This is an area where Brown can make a difference. But it is not as simple as showing up at ethnic events and tweeting his presence, for intolerance lurks in segments of every community, and it takes courage to tell people what they don’t always want to hear.

As prime minister, Brian Mulroney made a point of preaching ethnic tolerance in almost every speech he gave, in both official languages, in every part of the country. So, too, did Bill Davis as premier of Ontario.

As Progressive Conservatives, they understood the need to lead on this issue. It must be said that Brown’s immediate predecessor as PC leader, Tim Hudak, did not distinguish himself in the opening days of the 2011 election when he baited foreign workers as a way of riling rural Ontarians. Former premier Dalton McGuinty was also playing with fire when he used code language against faith-based schools in the 2007 election.

Brown now has an opportunity to make his own mark.

The federal Conservative leadership race is being buffeted by talk from one of the candidates, Kellie Leitch, of imposing a values test on outsiders — reminding us of her disgraceful role promoting a “Barbaric cultural practices tip line” during the 2015 election (along with another possible candidate, Chris Alexander).

Today, in a time of Trumpism, our leaders need to set a tone for dignified public discourse, espousing tolerance over expediency. Is Patrick Brown up to the job?

Long after his sex-ed flip-flops are forgotten, Brown will be judged on his growth as a politician. A true defence of societal tolerance — of Muslim and Jew, gay and trans, immigrant or indigenous — is an opportunity for the PC leader to make his mark both in his party, and across the province.

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